Mutual Respect, Harmonious Settlement Of Disputes Needed For Peaceful Ties With India: Pak Envoy

PTI, March 23, 2026, New Delhi: Peaceful relations between Pakistan and India can only be established based on equality, mutual respect and harmonious settlement of all disputes, a Pakistani envoy said here on Monday. Addressing the Pakistan Day event, Saad Ahmad Warraich, Charge d'Affaires of Pakistan to India, raked up the Kashmir issue and called for a "just settlement" on it.

Pakistan Day was commemorated at the country's High Commission in New Delhi on Monday. Warraich hoisted the Pakistani national flag during the ceremony held at the Chancery Lawns, according to a statement issued by the high commission. He was quoted in the statement as saying that peaceful relations between Pakistan and India "can only be established based on equality, mutual respect and peaceful settlement of all disputes."

"A just settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people was intrinsic to this end," the envoy said.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such engagement. New Delhi has also been stressing that the entire Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and Pakistan has been illegally occupying parts of the Union territory. 

In his remarks, the Chargé d'Affaires said the Lahore Resolution of March 23,1940 "served as a touchstone for the Muslims of the subcontinent to strive for a separate homeland of their own". The Pakistani envoy said under Muhammad Ali Jinnah's leadership, "this collective aspiration" found expression in the establishment of Pakistan within a short span of seven years.